Court orders unlicensed SMSF scheme be wound up

The Federal Court of Australia has ordered that Perth-based company Superfunded be wound up following action taken by ASIC as part of an ongoing investigation into the businesses activities.

The corporate regulator has previously obtained a number of interim injunctions against both the company’s sole director, Max Goldenberg, and its sole shareholder, Mark Goldenberg.

Both the Goldenbergs and Superfunded have been restrained from providing financial services, having access to client or investor assets, and advertising or promoting financial services in relation to the Superfunded Loan Investment Trust.

ASIC commenced proceedings against Superfunded and the Goldenbergs over concerns the business, which was operating without an AFSL, may have breached the Corporations Act by promoting schemes “that encourage or promote the illegal early release of super”.

“This case serves as a reminder to consumers approached to set up self-managed super funds, to take care to ensure they are not being drawn into schemes that may involve illegal early access to superannuation,” said ASIC commissioner John Price.

According to the regulator, Mark Goldenberg was banned from providing financial advice in 2009, and sentenced to three years’ imprisonment in 2011 for misusing $1.5 million of investor funds for his own benefit.